This article's name is an unofficial translation from official Japanese media
and may not represent the canonical English name, if one exists.
An alternate name from an official source may be required.
- This article is about the turrets in Tourian and E.M.M.I. Zones. For other uses, see Cannon (Disambiguation)
Small defense Cannons (砲台 )[1][2] are seen in all appearances of Tourian, in Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission and Super Metroid. The similar Central Unit Cannons[3] appear in Central Unit rooms in Metroid Dread.
Description[]
These stationary Cannons are exclusively encountered within every version of the Zebesian Command Center, the room inhabited by Mother Brain. Their design is simple, consisting of either a circular or octagonal metal base with a single gun barrel jutting out from its sides; the middle of their base has a core which can glow. The appearance of the Cannons varies in other media. Affixed to the walls and ceilings, their purpose is to defend Mother Brain by firing small projectiles at Samus. These artillery batteries seem to lack targeting systems, as their gun barrels swivel and shoot in random directions, regardless of who or what is nearby. However, this particular attack pattern makes them somewhat unpredictable and dangerous due to their numbers which quickly fill the room with a constant barrage of bullets, further compounded with the infinitely spawning Rinkas.
Samus can safely stand on top of the Cannons' circular bases unless they fire a shot directly upwards at her. Depending on where the Cannons are positioned, the gun barrels can swivel and shoot between three to five different directions. Their projectiles, although not terribly damaging on their own if wearing suit upgrades, are a great nuisance as a direct hit will often push Samus into nearby Rinkas, into the shot of another Cannon or outright knock her into the lava below, making the climb back to her advantageous position a potential struggle due to all the aforementioned hazards and thus accumulate damage. All of this, as well as their ability to destroy her limited number of Missiles, give the Zebetites opportunities to regenerate which further hinder Samus's progress towards Mother Brain's destruction.
Cannons are invulnerable to all of Samus's weapons. They appear to be linked directly to Mother Brain, as the only times they are seen being destroyed are immediately upon the supercomputer's defeat. This is depicted with their gun barrels exploding while their bases remain, and some of the latter are still present when revisiting the destroyed ruins of the original Command Center. In Super Metroid, defeating Mother Brain's first form initially leads to the same result but the remaining base of a Cannon abruptly vanishes seconds later. In the original NES/Famicom Metroid, their cores flash red when Tourian's Time Bomb begins counting down. In later released games, the cores constantly emanate a red glow, though it is only in Zero Mission where they very briefly turn yellow whenever the Cannons fire a shot.
These mechanisms can be seen in the Galactic Federation blueprints for the Future Aurora Complex, which is closely modeled after the Zebesian Command Center, as featured in one of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's preview trailers. The Federation might have intended to add cannons to their Aurora Unit(s), as all the benevolent AUs present in Corruption are seemingly defenseless.
Central Unit Cannon[]
The Central Unit Cannon[3], abbreviated as CUCannon,[4] is a cannon that appears in Metroid Dread. They are only present within rooms featuring a Central Unit and as such there is always at least one Central Unit Cannon mounted on the walls and/or ceiling. Since the Central Units are implicitly of a similar nature to Mother Brain and both also rely on Rinkas for defense, these Central Unit Cannons very closely resemble the Cannons seen in the Zebesian Command Center.
At the start of the battle, the Central Unit Cannons in the room emerge from hatches; for the Ferenia Central Unit, a fourth cannon emerges after the Unit's armor is destroyed. Unlike previous Cannons that only fire in random directions, the Central Unit Cannons actively aim at Samus's current position. The Cannons light up just before firing a bolt that travels in a straight line across the room; both the lights and the bolt are the same color as the associated E.M.M.I.'s armor.[5] Samus must dodge the Central Unit Cannon projectiles, since she cannot destroy them for pickups. When the Central Unit is destroyed, the Central Unit Cannons deactivate and retract back into their hatches.
Similar devices[]
Within the Command Center of the reconstructed Tourian in Super Metroid, a red glowing circular device that spawns Rinkas is found beneath the Control Capsule and, aside from lacking the characteristic gun barrel, it is visually identical to the Cannons present in the room. While other such circular devices are seen throughout Tourian except for the barren wasteland section, some of their cores glow blue rather than the common red and some do not generate Rinkas at all, instead they're only decorative. Every single one beyond Mother Brain's chamber rapidly flashes red as the Time Bomb counts down following her death. A structure identical to the base of a Cannon was also underneath the original Control Capsule in Metroid; it did not feature a gun barrel, nor did it generate Rinkas nor did its core glow.
A defense system resembling the Cannon are the Ring Beam Units encountered in the Galactic Federation's Bioweapon Research Center in Metroid: Other M, however these mechanisms fire Rinkas instead of bullets; they foreshadow the eventual confrontation with MB, an android who's A.I is copied from Mother Brain's.
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, an organic supercomputer known as Aurora Unit 313, which shares many traits with Mother Brain, can activate six structures that emerge from hatches surrounding its base. They each take turns firing harmful energy spheres with slight homing capabilities up to a total of eight before the structures retract into the ground. Because their projectiles are somewhat reminiscent of Rinkas, these devices are more similar to the Ring Beam Units.
The Grim-Class Turrets in Metroid Prime: Federation Force serve an identical purpose for Master Brain. While Master Brain is unable to attack by itself, the room it is situated in features 18 Grim-Class Turrets emerging from hatches to shoot at the Federation Force. Unlike the Cannons for Mother Brain and the Central Units, they can be destroyed with weapons and are not exclusively found in Master Brain's room.
Trivia[]
- In the prequel Metroid manga, no Cannons can be seen in the Zebesian Command Center during the time Mother Brain was an ally of the Chozo. They only make their appearance during the final pages of the manga when Samus enters the fully-remodelled Command Center to destroy Mother Brain. This led to the belief that the Cannons were of Space Pirate origin, seeing as how the changes to her room began following the Pirates' takeover of planet Zebes. With the release of Metroid Dread and the introduction of Central Units with their own similar cannons on ZDR, a planet still inhabited by the Chozo, it's become unclear who designed the original Cannons.
- In the original Metroid for the NES/Famicom, after Mother Brain is defeated but before the body dissipates, the Cannons will swivel without shooting. The gun barrels themselves are only destroyed once the countdown begins.
- In Zero Mission, the four Cannons closest to Mother Brain have several red and blue cables plugged into them. The significance or reason behind this is unknown.
- During the flashback of the original battle against Mother Brain in the introduction to Super Metroid, the gun barrels of the two onscreen Cannons neither swivel nor shoot.
- During Super Metroid's final battle, the Cannon closest to Mother Brain is seemingly floating in the air due to its sprite being distant from the nearest wall and ceiling. It is this same one that vanishes along with its gun barrel following the destruction of the control capsule.
- In Super Metroid, if the Cannon's fire is shot with a Missile or Super Missile, both shots will extinguish each other.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ Victory Techniques for Metroid pg. 174, as translated by Metroid Database
- ^ Metroid: Zero Mission ミッション・コンプリートブック [1]
- ^ a b As named in the configuration data of Metroid Dread.
- ^ "CUCannon" is the model's title in the internal files.
- ^ Looygi Bros. "11 Cool Details in Metroid Dread (Part 6)". YouTube. January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
Indestructible Creatures | |
---|---|
Non-hostile | Aurora Unit 217 • Baby • Dachora • Databot • Etecoon • Fleet Admiral Castor Dane • Fleet Mechanic • Pow • Septogg • Tatori • Tatori, Jr. • U-Mos Training Drone • Watchdrone • Work Robot |
Hostiles | Aazelion • Airthorn • Autom • Big Metroid • Cannon • GMX-04 Halberd-class turret (if provoked) • Polyp • Proboscum Puromi • Ring Beam Unit • Ripper II • Samus Eater (Bud) • Seed platform • Unfreezable Metroid • ZipNMEBomber |
Misc. | Bloatsac • Blueroot Tree (Dark) • Butterfly • Chomper Fish • Durable plantform • Fish • Fungus • Glow Stem • Great Tree Massive tentacle • Moth • Parasitic fungus • Protozoan • RedGrass • Sandgrass • Sbug • Scarp • Scatterbug • Tallon fern • Mantha |